Exam 2 Content - Psyc

encoding failure study

to refute the claim that memory is a result of being repeatedly exposed to a stimulus, a study was performed in which participants were asked to first recall what the head-side of a penny looked like, then to identify which image of the penny was correct; most people incorrectly identified the correct image

encoding failure

when information fails to be committed to memory

encoding

the process of committing information to memory

Atkinson Shiffrin’s three systems of memory

sensory, short term, and long term memory

sensory memory

what is being currently processed by the five senses; short duration (0-10 s), huge capacity

short term memory

from passively paying attention to sensory memories; has a duration of ~30 s, large capacity; overlaps with working memory

long term memory

memory that is theretically limitless in duration and capacity

iconic memory

a type of sensory memory that lasts <1s, takes in a large amount of visual information

echoic memory

a type of sensory memory that lasts 3-10s, takes in audio memory

working memory

a form of active memory that is a combination of short term memory and attention; holds information longer than short term memory; can also tie to long term memory

chunking

a memorization technique where large amounts of information can be deliberately groups into smaller, more manageable parts; weaving these different components together can help improve memory of that information

short term memory capacity

7+-2; can be increased with chunking

priming

when information in memory is brought to the forefront of the mind by a related concept; also called “triggering” in marketing

Associated Network Model of Memory

the idea that the mind works like a web of interconnected concepts such that calling one concept to attention activates the related concepts; also the Spreading Activation Theory

shallow processing

the physical and perceptual features that are analyzed

intermediate processing

when stimulus is recognized and labeled

deep processing

when semantic, meaningful, and symbolic characteristics are used

self-reference effect

when information that is tied to memories of the self is more easily remembered

self-reference study

the participants were shown adjectives flashed on the screen in various conditions:

1) physical —> one adjective in larger font, other in smaller

2) acoustic —> had to determine if the words rhymed

3) semantic —> had to determine if the words were synonyms

4) self-reference —> had to determine if the words described themself

participants most remembered the words in the self-reference condition

social meaning

the idea that socially relevant information is more easily remembered

social meaning study

participants read descriptions of daily human behavior and were in two conditions:

1) participants told they had to memorize the information for a test

2) participants told they had to form an impression of what that person might be like

participants remembered the descriptions better in condition 2

testing effect

memory of information is better for information one has already been tested on; short answer is more effective than multiple choice; is more effective when feedback is provided

retrieval practice effect

a method for improving memory by testing oneself; memory retrieval can be improved by practicing retrieving that information from one’s memory

elaborative rehearsal

the idea that information is better memorized when one can explain it in a variety of ways; can also be through creating own examples and mnemonics (more effective when they are vivid or absurd)

levels of processing theory

the more deeply one processes the meaning of information, the more likely they are to remember it later

tie to emotions

a method for memorization in which information is associated with emotions; due to the fact that the brain uses emotion as a compass for survival; more effective with negative emotions (perceived as threat to survival) or strong emotions

negativity bias

the phenomena where information tied to negative emotions is more easily remembered because the brain processes the information as threat relevant

tie to goals

information that is associated with highly desirable goals is more easily remembered

overlearning

the best strategy to overcome test anxiety and build long term memory; the practice of continuing to learn, rehearse, and quiz material even after correctly learning the target material

overlearning study

all participants were given a list of of 20 words to memorize that they were then tested on (had to reproduce the list of words in each “trial”)

1) Group 1 participants only completed as many trials as necessary to correctly write the list of words

2) Group 2 participants completed 50% more trials after they memorized the list of words (50% overlearning)

3) Group 3 participants completed 100% more trials after they memorized the list of words (100% overlearning)

after 28 days all participants were retested on the words —> participants in groups with more % overlearning performed better

mnemonic device

a memory trick where target information is associated with other words

generation effect

any concept one creates themself is more likely to be remembered by that person

pop out effect

any stimulus that is different from others in an array is more likely to be remembered

recency effect

stimulus that appears later in an array is more likely to be remembered

primacy effect

stimulus that appears at the beginning of an array is more likely to be remembered

Deese Rodinger McDermott paradigm

experiment that demonstrated confabulated memory; participants heard a list of words that all had to do with sleep (excluding the actual word “sleep”); when asked to reproduce the list of words participants included the word sleep because it was a closely related word to the others in the list

confabulated memory

falsely remembering information because of close semantic relationship to the other information in the target concept; a demonstration of spreading activation theory

declarative/explicit memory

memories that can be said out loud, including semantic and episodic memory

semantic memory

memory of factual knowledge

episodic memory

memory of things that have happened in one’s life

nondeclarative/implicit memory

includes procedural memory, smells, and familiarity

procedural memory

memory of how to do things, how to perform tasks

anterograde amnesia

when new declarative memories can’t be formed, but implicit memories may be left unimpaired; usually due to lesions to the hippocampus; poor recovery; patients seem frozen in time

retrograde amnesia

when old declarative memories are lost; larger range of severity and many causes; can still form new memories

encoding specifity

the phenomena that information is remembered better when it’s recalled under the same specific conditions under which it was learned

context dependent learning

information is remembered better when it is recalled in the same context/environment it was originally learned

scuba study

an example of context dependent learning:

some participants were given a list of words to memorize on land and others were instructed to memorize the list in scuba gear under water

the participants who learned the information on land recalled it better on land and those who learned the information under the water recalled it better under the water

state dependent learning

information is better recalled when the individual is in the same psychological state they were in when they learned it

proactive interference

when old information interferes with the learning of new information

retroactive interference

when new information interferes with old information

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve

created lists of nonsense syllables, learned them, and then saw how long it took to forget them; created a curve based on experimental results that shows how long it takes to forget completely new, unfamiliar information after learning it

clap song demonstration

some participants were shown the titles of the three songs the experimenter would clap out; after each clapped song, the experimenter asked the participants to estimate what percentage of the remaining participants would be able to recognize the song; in general the selected participants in the beginning tended to overestimate the percentage due to naive realism and hindsight bias

naive realism

an error in the brain’s perception of reality where it mistakenly interprets it subjective perception of reality as an objective representation of the situation

hindsight bias

when the answer is obvious to those who already know the outcome or answer

self serving/self enhancement bias

thinking and memory is biased to reach conclusions that boost one’s ego

self serving bias study

participants were divided and assigned to either read an article on 1) how caffeine is bad for you or 2) good for you

1) Participants recalled consuming less caffeine over the prior month

2) Participants recalled consuming more caffeine over the prior month

witness study

when several people witnessed the same event, different people remembered different details with varying accuracy; when a person began incorporating false information, it was woven into the memories of other people; people’s memories began to converge

memory conformity

when an individual’s memory becomes aligned with the memories/accounts of others

memory conformity study

a faux criminal event of a woman returning a library book to an unattended desk and slipping $10 from a wallet was filmed from two angles: A and B, with specific details only viewable in specific angles

Participants were divided to watch angle A or B and were then partnered to discuss with someone who viewed the opposite angle (eg. only angle A could see the book title, only angle B could see that the girl threw a note away in a trashcan)

71% recalled seeing details that were only viewable in their partner’s angle

misinformation

when false information is fed to someone, changing their memory

Loftus and Palmer 1974

a misinformation study in which participants watched the same video of a traffic accident and were then asked to estimate the speed of the cars when the smashed/collided/bumped/hit/contacted

the estimations varied depending on the verb that was used; speed estimation increased from contacted to smashed

Loftus and Pickrell “lost in a mall”

a misinformation study in which the family members of the participants were contacted ahead of the study and instructed to tell the participants the same story of being lost in the mall at a young age

40% of participants subsequently “remembered” the event and could recall details

Wade study

a misinformation study in which participants’ families were contacted for photos of the participants when they were younger

the participants were then photoshopped into an image showing them riding a hot air balloon

the participants were shown the photoshopped images of them in the hot air balloons

50% falsely remembered the event

confabulation

when the brain invents incorrect information due to related information being activated

just world bias

also known as victim blaming; is the natural bias people tend to have of interpreting the world as fair

just world bias study

participants read an account of “Pam” and “Peter” going on a night out; some participants only had information up to Peter taking Pam to his apartment, others had information up to Peter raping Pam at his apartment

participants tended to rate Pam as having lower intelligence when they read about Peter’s actions and were less approving of her behavior

when the participants who read the full story were asked later to recall what happened, they falsely identified “rape antecedents” as being part of the story even though they were not

neurons

main functional unique of nervous system; roughly 85 billion in the brain; a unique sequence of neurons corresponds to a unique brain operation

nerve

a bundle of neurons that are for bodily sensation and movement

afferent neurons

also sensory, take information from the extremities to the brain; body —> brain

efferent neurons

also motor, takes information from the brain to extremities; brain —> body

interneurons

the neurons that connect afferent and efferent neurons, for reflex arc

axon

the part of a neuron down which the action potential fires

cell body

where the action potential in a neuron starts

dendrites

parts that branch out from the cell body to receive incoming signals

terminal buttons

the end of a neuron that can release neurotransmitters to the next neuron’s dendrites

synapse

the area between two neurons

action potential

the electrical signal that fires down a axon, reaching the terminal buttons that can release neurotransmitters to the dendrites of the next axon

presynaptic neuron

the neuron from which neurotransmitters are being released at the terminal buttons

postsynaptic neurons

the neuron that receives the chemical neurotransmitter signals from the previous neuron

synaptic cleft

the space between the presynaptic and postsynaptic neuron

vesicles

membrane bound sacks that carry neurotransmitters; fuse with the membrane of the terminal button to release neurotransmitters to the postsynaptic neuron

reuptake

the process of neurotransmitters being taken back into the presynaptic neuron

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that are released from axon terminals to transmit signals to neighboring neurons; activities of certain types tend to correlate to psychological functions

acetylcholine

neurotransmitter in arousal, attention, memory, and muscle contractions; botox is a chemical that destroys this neurotransmitter and Alzheimer’s is linked to a deficiency of this neurotransmitter

dopamine

a neurotransmitter associated with learning and attention, especially for rewarding experiences; associated with pleasure and euphoria, high levels involved in addiction, and issues with this neurotransmitter are associated with Schizophrenia and Parkinson’s

serotonin

a neurotransmitter that regulates mood, sleep, and can inhibit appetites; theoretically involved in depression

GABA

an inhibitory transmitter that is responsible for sleep, inhibition of movement, and arousal; issues with this neurotransmitter are related to anxiety; anti-anxiety drugs (like Valium) are agonists for this neurotransmitter

glutamate

an excitatory neurotransmitter that is involved in learning and memory formation; is the most prevalent neurotransmitter and plays a role in almost everything (disease, anxiety, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s); gets shut down by alcohol

endorphins

a neurotransmitter involved in pain relief and euphoria; is the brain’s natural opiate; involved in runner’s high, childbirth, doing drugs

epinephrine/norepinephrine

neurotransmitters that are related to arousal and mood; are also known as adrenaline and noradrelanine; get released in response to stress, play a role in depression; are increased by uppers such as cocaine and amphetamines

agonists

drugs that increase the effects of a neurotransmitter; can increase production of the neurotransmitter in the presynaptic neuron, block reuptake of neurotransmitters, or mimic neurotransmitters and bind to postsynaptic receptors

antagonists

drugs that decrease the effects of a neurotransmitter; can decrease neurotransmitter production, destroy neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft, or bind to postsynaptic receptors to block neurotransmitters from binding

hindbrain

the the lower back area of the human brain; responsible for basic functions; includes the medulla, cerebellum, and pons

medulla

responsible for breathing and reflexes; part of the hindbrain

cerebellum

rounded structure in hindbrain responsible for motor coorination, balance, and movement

pons

structure in the hindbrain that governs sleep and arousal

midbrain

area in the middle of the human brain; bridge between forebrain and hindbrain; includes reticular formation

reticular formation

collection of neurons for arousal and stereotyped patterns such as walking

forebrain

the largest, top most and most forward part of the brain, for most complex cognitive activities; includes the limbic system and the cerebral cortex

limbic system

area in the middle of the forebrain that is for mood, emotion, and body regulation; parts include the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus